Ink in a print head of a printer is often heated and the temperature of the ink regulated. Temperatures of the ink should be within a recommended range of temperatures to ensure the highest print quality and the minimum risk of damage to the printer's components. Temperature measurement and monitoring is usually performed and incorporated into the print head itself to maintain the temperature of the print head in the recommended temperature range.
Conventional temperature measurement devices include thermistors placed at each side of the jet stack of a print head. Recent changes in high jet density print head designs have adopted flexible or “flex” circuit technology as the preferred method of including electronic components in the print heads. Further, space constraints for new print head designs provide little room for conventional thermistors.
Still further, thermistors experience frequent failure and are a major reason that print heads need maintenance or need to be replaced. Thermistors also are a separate component that needs to be attached to the print head during the manufacturing process, which presents separate failure issues. The failure rate, design and space constraints, cost, and difficult maintenance, make thermistors a poor design choice for the temperature measurement component for print head jet stacks. Embodiments of the disclosure address these and other limitations of the currently available methods and systems of temperature measurement in print head jet stacks.